Ben and Jerry
by forensicsfan
Summary: Sara's having one of those days and even chocolate and her favorite Ben and Jerry's isn't helping. Will a surprise visitor help? NS


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them, and I don't profit from them, but as always, coffee with George and Jorja would be nice...as would guest starring as 'Dead Body Number 2' on any CSI episode.

**Author's Note:** This little piece is dedicated to the bug who committed suicide against my car while I was driving down the highway at 55 with the window down. The bug splatter pattern on my brand new hooded sweatshirt is quite interesting really...I just have to figure out how to get bug juice out of a poly-cotton blend. Oh, and it is also dedicated to 'barenakedrachel' to entertain her since she's on bed rest because of her little bundle of joy, and to Brianna who could use a spa day.

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The sounds of "What Not To Wear" blared from Sara's TV as she lay sprawled out on her couch wearing a t-shirt and a pair of track pants. Strewn across her coffee table were numerous wrappers from pieces of Dove chocolate and one empty pint of Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream. Despite her indulgence, she was still feeling rather moody and was giving serious consideration to popping _Lethal Weapon_ into her DVD player since the skirt and shoe combination the target of Stacy and Clinton's fashion intervention was wearing was causing her to tear up. 

"What that hell is wrong with me?" She sniffled uncontrollably, remembering how on her way home, the sight of a chopper from a local news channel flying overhead to report on the morning traffic had almost caused her to break down and cry at how harmonious the world was with people working together to make things a better place.

As a commercial for dish soap came onto the TV, Sara began to cry at how touching it was that Dawn could really cut through all that grease, saving time and effort in the kitchen so you could have a life. Only, lately she really didn't feel like she had a life. If it hadn't been for the fact that she couldn't remember exactly the last time she'd had sex, she might think that maybe she was pregnant, but then you really needed to be in a room alone with a man in some sort of close proximity, preferably with your clothes off for that to even be a remote possibility. That thought made her cry all the more.

She finally decided that perhaps TV wasn't the best thing to be spending her free time on, but as she considered whether she really wanted to read another one of her forensic journals she sniffled and then began to flip channels. She finally stopped on a Spanish-language station which was showing a soap opera. Despite the fact that her Spanish was rather rusty, the emotion and tone of the program seemed to match her mood. She was so entranced by Ricardo revealing to Christina that he wanted to be with Cassandra and not her that she almost didn't hear the knock at the door. Reluctantly, she pulled herself up off the couch to see who was there.

Nick looked at her rumpled appearance curiously. He had been a little concerned about her at work when she'd gotten upset about the way her print powder was the wrong shade of black. It seemed very un-Sara-like and he had decided that he needed to check on her. He immediately wondered if some jerk was responsible for her current state, but he couldn't remember her talking about dating anyone recently, and in the back of his mind he was glad.

"What are you doing here?" Sara couldn't hold back the quiver in her voice. The thought that Nick had stopped by to see her made her want to cry and she inwardly cursed at herself for being a woman.

"Are you ok?" Nick walked in as she opened the door wide.

"Yes." Her voice was unconvincing and she couldn't really understand what was wrong.

"Oh, Sara." Nick had a furrowed brow as he looked at her face. It was tear-stained and he could swear that her chin was quivering.

Shutting the door, Sara tried to pull herself together, but instead found herself falling apart and then Nick's arms were around her; safe and secure. He held her for a while, and Sara just let him, she finally pulled away feeling rather foolish. "I'm sorry...I don't know what's wrong with me..."

Nick was at a loss, but he decided to fish for some information. "If some guy has been giving you trouble..."

Sara interrupted him before he had a chance to finish. "No one's bothering me...in fact it's been so long since I've had a date, I think I'd welcome a chance to be bothered." She tried to laugh, but it came out as sort of a snort instead.

"Are you PMSing?" Nick was used to being frank with his sisters, but he could tell by the look on Sara's face that maybe that wasn't the kind of question you asked coworkers, friends or not.

"No." She blurted it out, not really sure if she was, but not really wanting to talk to Nick about it. Then she realized that she was just lonely. Damn, boring, irritatingly lonely.

Nick quirked an eyebrow at her as he noted the sort of sad expression on her face. "You want some company?" It seemed to him that maybe what she needed was a friend; the something more he might explore later, but today he thought that she just needed a friend.

"Yeah." She sniffled again. She wasn't sure why she felt so exposed, so needy; but with Nick it felt ok. She forced a smile and then found that it didn't really feel so forced. "I was thinking about watching _Lethal Weapon_."

"You left it at Warrick's." Nick hoped that it wasn't going to be a problem; but he remembered distinctly that they'd had a movie night a few weeks ago and she'd let Warrick borrow it.

"Oh, I did." Sara sounded a little disappointed. "I guess we could watch TV..." In spite of the zillions of cable channels available, it seemed as if nothing was on.

"Ok, but no offense, I'm not watching soap operas...Spanish or English." His tone was clearly teasing her, but it had its desired effect as it brought a smile to her face.

Yes, she definitely had been lonely, but it was very good to have Nick there with her. "Fine, but we're not watching football either."

"Well you're in luck...there aren't any games on until later." He smirked at her, hoping that maybe he'd be there later, a lot later.

Sara smirked back at him. "Lucky me." She sank into the couch and Nick sat down beside her.

"Yes you are." He grinned at her as he slung an arm around her shoulder in a friendly hug. "Now what's on besides this?"

"Not much." Sara harrumphed, but she had to admit to herself that she was enjoying the fact that Nick still had his arm around her shoulders.

Nick took command of her remote and began to flip channels, when he came to The Discovery Channel; they both started talking at once. "Oh, this one..."

"I love this episode..." Sara giggled and then arched at brow at him. "You do realize how nerdy we both are that we're excited about an episode of 'The Forensic Files'."

"Hey, I don't have a problem with it if you don't." He winked at her and set the remote down on his lap. He couldn't resist fiddling with her hair as they sat there and he could swear that as he did Sara scooted a little closer. After a few moments of relative silence, Nick cleared his throat. "Uh, so I was going to ask you...what was wrong with the black print powder?"

"Huh?" Sara looked at him oddly.

"Earlier." He glanced over at her with a smile. "I overheard you saying something about the black print powder being the wrong shade of black...at the crime scene..." He was sure that he'd heard her say something like that, but the way she was looking back at him, he wasn't sure he was sure anymore.

"Oh, that..." Sara chuckled softly scooting even closer to Nick. "I was just thinking that Red Creeper would have worked a lot better on that surface...or maybe if we had an iridescent black powder...why?"

"I thought maybe you were...well...having a bit of a melt-down and I was worried." Nick admitted, not quite sure that to have thought that deeply about print powder in the first place wasn't a sign that she was losing it anyway.

"I'm not losing it...much." She smirked. She couldn't deny that she'd been on the verge of completely losing it before Nick had arrived, and now that he was there, her thoughts had begun drifting into very dangerous territory, what with his fingers playing with her hair.

"So you admit that you're losing it." He had meant his comment to come across in a teasing manner, but when he heard Sara let out a frustrated sigh, he began to think that maybe he should have kept it to himself.

"Well you'd be losing it too if you hadn't had a date in...well, a pretty damn long time...it sort of makes you feel like no one wants you anymore." She hadn't intended to tell him that; the last thing she wanted was for Nick Stokes to think she wasn't desirable.

"There are lots of guys who think you're pretty amazing." Nick didn't want her to wallow in self-pity when he could think of any number of guys that would just about kill for the chance to go out with her.

"Yeah, right." She had half a mind to go get the pint of Chubby Hubby that she had in her freezer until her eyes focused on the empty pint of Chunky Monkey.

"Greg thinks you're pretty terrific...I've heard a couple of the guys from Days talking about you..." He wasn't sure if this was the time to broach the subject, but she snuggled into him again and it gave him courage. "...and I wouldn't mind getting a chance to take you out on a date either."

Sara's eyes widened and she looked up at him in surprise. "What?" She certainly wasn't against the idea, but she'd never thought that she was Nick's type.

"I think you're pretty amazing." He smiled at her hopeful that she wouldn't shove him off the couch.

"Wow." Sara wasn't sure what to say, but she sure as hell knew what she wanted to do.

Nick recognized that look in her eye and he decided that now was the time to explore that something more. He leaned in and softly kissed Sara.

As soon as his lips touched hers, she completely tuned out 'The Forensic Files' and tuned in to how much she'd wanted to do this for a while; maybe that's why she'd been in such a funk; she hadn't thought this would ever happen.

They were so absorbed in each other that neither one of them seemed to immediately notice that the remote had gotten squished between them and the channels were flipping rapidly on the TV, providing a rather bizarre background noise. Finally, after the third round through the hundred or so channels Sara had, Nick grabbed the remote and fumbled for the power button before tossing it in no particular direction.

Suddenly Sara wasn't feeling so moody any more and she decided that as much as she loved chocolate and Chunky Monkey ice cream, she loved Nick's kisses more; and gathering from Nick's response to her kisses, she was pretty damn sure the feeling was mutual.

_**The End**_


End file.
